![]() ![]() “I’ll break into three sets of 200, and then I work my arms. The stroke has taken away his ability to practice martial arts, but Leong sticks to a rigid regimen and remains a lethal weapon by working out and finding ways to overcome the effects of the stroke.Įach day starts with 600 situps on a Swiss ball. In 2005, Leong was again dealt a crushing blow after suffering a stroke that paralyzed his right arm. SEE ALSO: ‘Jack Reacher’ Villain Patrick Heusinger Gets Ripped For Big Screen Debut “It was a hard time, but I was far from down and out,” he said. Then his wife left him and took custody of his two kids. A few weeks later he had a bout with shingles. Unsurprisingly, he put a beating on the tumor. At the height of his career, Leong was hit with brain cancer. Louis native’s long career of acting, kicking, and training others has culminated in the aptly named documentary, Henchman: The Al Leong Story, out this month.ĭespite his memorable on-screen battles, it was those he encountered off-screen that presented his toughest challenges. SEE ALSO: The 14 Most Jacked Movie Villains Of All Time The 5’6″ ICU in kung-fu slippers started getting calls to do stunt work and coordinate fight scenes with the top pretty boys at the time: Tom Selleck ( Magnum, P.I.) and David Hasselhoff ( Knight Rider). Leong won multiple martial arts competitions in the early ’70s, catching the eyes of casting directors who saw a new-and nastier-looking-Bruce Lee. I learned from a true master who never used a phony belt system.” “I spent hours and hours training in kung fu, taekwondo, and other styles-sometimes seven days a week. “I’ve been very lucky to have had a very fulfilling career and to have had the opportunity to make a lot of stars look very bad,” the 64-year-old admits. Show in the 1980s and ’90s, some poor bastard was about to meet the wrong end of a fist, foot, or scythe. And while you probably never knew his name, you knew that whenever Al Leong showed up in an action movie or TV ISBN 978-9-3.You watched him wield a hatchet in Big Trouble in Little China, steal candy in Die Hard, and torture Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. ^ "David Callaham: Writer Reel (2004)"."8 Things You Didn't Know About Al Leong". ![]() ^ McNeil, Jason William (November 1, 2015).^ A chat with Al Leong – martial artist & stuntman extraordinaire - Chiller Theatre,.^ An Exclusive Interview with Al Leong Archived April 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, World Wide Dojo.^ As of June 2007, the fan site Al Leong: Cinematic Legend Archived October 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine campaigns for Leong to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from Taurus World Stunt Awards and an MTV Lifetime Achievement Award.Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Thirty Seconds Over Little Tokyo (episode # 39) Lease with an Option to Die (episode # 4.4) He wrote and directed the low-budget film Daddy Tell Me a Story. Hooker, MacGyver, That '70s Show, and HBO's Deadwood. He also has made appearances on several television shows such as Knight Rider, Magnum, P.I., The Twilight Zone, T. Īs a stuntman, Leong was involved with the production of numerous films including The Golden Child, Last Action Hero, Roland Emmerich's Godzilla, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, and Daredevil. The 'reel' was accepted into a number of short film festivals. In 2003, Leong lampooned himself as well as the Hollywood tradition of actor and director 'reels' by starring in screenwriter David Callaham's "Writer's Reel." In the five-minute short film, Leong portrayed Callaham going through a typical day in the life of a writer. He also portrayed an out-of-time Genghis Khan in the comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. and a recurring role on the first season of the TV series 24. His credits include Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Joshua Tree, Big Trouble in Little China, The Scorpion King, and They Live. Leong had brain cancer in 1993 and suffered a stroke in 2005. In 1962, when he was ten years old, they moved to Los Angeles. The youngest of three children born to Chinese American parents, he grew up behind the Chinese laundry that they owned. ![]()
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